Asian Heritage in Horror: Interview with Vanessa Fogg

Vanessa Fogg is an American writer of Thai and Chinese descent, born and raised in the American Midwest. After years as a research scientist in molecular cell biology, she now works as a freelance scientific/medical writer and editor. She writes fantasy and science fiction as well as horror, and stories that bleed across genres. Her short fiction has appeared in Lightspeed, Daily Science Fiction, GigaNotoSaurus, The Future Fire, Translunar Travelers Lounge, and The Best Science Fiction of the Year: Volume 4. Her fantasy novelette, The Lilies of Dawn, is available in print and ebook from Annorlunda Books. For a complete…

Jewish Heritage in Horror: An Interview with Aden Polydoros

Aden Polydoros is an author of YA dark fantasy and gothic horror novels, and has a bachelor's degree in English from Northern Arizona University. His most recent novel, The City Beautiful, was declared a Best YA Book of 2021 by New York Public Library, BookPage, Buzzfeed, and Tor.com, and was the winner of the 2022 Sydney Taylor Book Award for Young Adult fiction. His forthcoming gothic fantasy novel, Bone Weaver, comes out in September 2022 from Inkyard Press/HarperCollins. What inspired you to start writing? I’ve always been interested in writing and reading, but it wasn't until ninth grade or so…

Asian Heritage in Horror: Interview with Geneve Flynn

Geneve Flynn is an award-winning speculative fiction editor and author. She co-edited Black Cranes: Tales of Unquiet Women with celebrated New Zealand author and editor Lee Murray. The anthology won the 2020 Bram Stoker Award® and 2020 Shirley Jackson Award. It also shortlisted for the British Fantasy, Aurealis, and Australian Shadows awards. Black Cranes is listed on Tor Nightfire’s Works of Feminist Horror and Locus magazine’s 2020 Recommended Reading List. Geneve was assistant editor for Relics, Wrecks, and Ruins, a speculative fiction anthology which is the legacy of Australian fantasy author Aiki Flinthart, and is in support of the Flinthart…

Jewish Heritage in Horror: An Interview with Maxwell Bauman

Maxwell Bauman is owner/ Editor-In-Chief of Door Is A Jar Literary Magazine. Maxwell Bauman earned his BA in English with a focus in Creative Writing from the University of Hartford (2011), and his MA in Fiction and MFA in Publishing from Wilkes University (2014/2015). Maxwell is a contributor to Chicken Soup for the Soul. He has written several horror books including The Anarchist Kosher Cookbook (Clash Books, 2017), The Mummy of Canaan (Clash Books, 2019), and House of Blood and Teeth (Nictitating Books, 2021). His Jewish sci-fi/ fantasy novella, The Giant Robots of Babel (Aggadah Try It Books) and YA…

Asian Heritage in Horror: Interview with Yvette Tan

Yvette Tan is one of the Philippines’ most celebrated horror writers. She’s written two collections, one in English and one in Tagalog, a feature film, and a ballet libretto, among others. Waking the Dead, her English collection, has just been reissued with a new cover and an extra story. Her story “The Last Moon” was part of the Philippine pavilion’s design in the 2021 Frankfurt Book Fair. She is currently a creative consultant to a game that highlights Filipino mythological creatures. Her works have been translated into Spanish, Czech, and Hungarian. What inspired you to start writing? I love reading,…

Jewish Heritage in Horror: An Interview with John Baltisberger

The author of War of Dictates, Abhorrent Faith, and Stabberger, John Baltisberger is a Splatterpunk nominee who writes speculative and genre fiction that often focuses on Jewish elements. Through his writing, he has explored themes of mysticism, faith, sin, and personal responsibility. He lives in Austin, TX with his wife and his daughter. Though mostly known for his bizarre blend of Jewish mysticism and splatter, John defies being labeled under any one genre. His work has spanned extreme horror, urban fantasy, science fiction, cosmic horror, epic verse, and he has even written a guide for mindful meditation. You can see…

Asian Heritage in Horror: Interview with Rin Chupeco

Rin Chupeco is a nonbinary Chinese-Filipino writer born and raised in the Philippines. They are the author of several speculative young adult series, including The Bone Witch, The Girl from the Well, The Never-Tilting World, Wicked as You Wish, and the adult vampire fantasy series Silver Under Nightfall. Formerly a 9-to-5 grunt, they now write fiction full-time and live with their partner and two children in Manila. Find them and their upcoming works at rinchupeco.com. What inspired you to start writing? I have always wanted ever since I was seven years old and it’s been a lifelong dream since. I…

Jewish Heritage in Horror: An Interview with Elana Gomel

Elana Gomel was born in a country that no longer exists, and since then has lived in several others, including Israel, Hong Kong, Italy, and the US. She currently resides in California. She is an academic with a long list of books and articles, specializing in science fiction, Victorian literature, and serial killers. She is also a fiction writer and the author of more than a hundred short stories, several novellas, and four novels. Her story “Where the Streets Have No Name” was the winner of the 2020 Gravity Award, and her story “Mine Seven” is included in The Best…

Asian Heritage in Horror: Introduction by Lee Murray

Lee Murray is an author, editor, screenwriter, and poet from Aotearoa-New Zealand. A USA Today Bestselling author, double Bram Stoker, and Shirley Jackson Award winner, her work includes military thrillers, the Taine McKenna Adventures, supernatural crime-noir series The Path of Ra (with Dan Rabarts), and short fiction collection, Grotesque: Monster Stories. Lee is the curator-editor of eighteen volumes of dark fiction, among them Black Cranes: Tales of Unquiet Women (with Geneve Flynn). Lee’s first poetry collection, Tortured Willows, a collaboration with Angela Yuriko Smith, Christina Sng and Geneve Flynn was released in October 2021. Read more at https://www.leemurray.info/ Introduction The…

Jewish Heritage in Horror: An Interview with Nicholas Kaufmann

Nicholas Kaufmann is the author of seven novels, including the bestsellers 100 Fathoms Below (with Steven L. Kent) and The Hungry Earth. His work has been nominated for the Bram Stoker Award, the Shirley Jackson Award, the Thriller Award, and the Dragon Award. His short fiction has appeared in Cemetery Dance, Black Static, Nightmare Magazine, Interzone, and others. In addition to his own original work, he has written for such properties as Zombies vs. Robots, The Rocketeer, and Warhammer. He lives in Brooklyn, NY. What inspired you to start writing? I was always a creative child, preferring imaginative play and…

Jewish Heritage in Horror Introduction by Maxwell I. Gold

Maxwell I. Gold is a multiple award nominated author who writes prose poetry and short stories in weird and cosmic fiction. His work has appeared in numerous anthologies and magazines including Weirdbook Magazine, Space and Time Magazine, Startling Stories, Strange Horizons, Tales from OmniPArk Anthology, Shadow Atlas: Dark Landscapes of the Americas and more. He’s the author of Oblivion in Flux: A Collection of Cyber Prose from Crystal Lake Publishing. He's a proud Columbus, Ohio native and currently serves on the Board of Trustees for the Horror Writers Association as the organization's Treasurer. My Kehilla, My Community Not everyone has…

Deaf and Hard of Hearing in Horror: Interview with Kris Ringman

Kris Ringman (she/they) is a deaf queer author, artist, and wanderer. Her multicultural, lyrical fiction plays along the boundaries of magical realism, fantasy, and horror. She is the author of two Lambda Literary finalist books: I Stole You: Stories from the Fae (Handtype Press, 2017) and Makara: a novel (Handtype Press, 2012), and the upcoming Sail Skin: poems (Handtype Press, 2022). They received their MFA in Creative Writing from Goddard College. http://krisringman.com What attracted you to the horror genre, and what do you think the genre has taught you about yourself and the world? My fascination with horror started probably too young, but has never abated. At…

Don’t forget to submit to the HWA Calendar of Signings and Events!

Are you a member of the HWA have an upcoming book signing or appearance at an event? The deadline for submission is the 10th of every month to ensure it is included in the upcoming month's newsletter. Submission can be entered via the event calendar submission form on the HWA members-only section of the website. Or, they can be emailed directly to HWACalendar@Gmail.com. Please include the following information if emailing: -Title of Event or signing -Name of Author attending -Date(s)/Time of event -Full Address of event (Name of business, address, city, state, Zip) -Brief description of the event *If the…

Deaf and Hard of Hearing in Horror: Interview with Michael R. Collings

Michael R. Collings, named Grand Master by the 2016 World Horror Conference, is an educator, literary scholar and critic, poet, novelist, essayist, columnist, reviewer, and editor whose work over three decades—more than one hundred published books and chapbooks, along with thousands of chapters, essays, reviews, and poems—has concentrated on science fiction, fantasy, and horror, emphasizing the works of Stephen King, Orson Scott Card, C.S. Lewis, and others. His books for Starmont House, beginning in 1984, were among the earliest serious scholarly appraisals of King. His 1990 study of Card was the first book-length exploration of Card's fictions. His wide-ranging publications…

Introduction to the Deaf/Hard of Hearing Horror Author Interview Series by Christopher Jon Heuer

Christopher Jon Heuer is the author of Bug: Deaf Identity and Internal Revolution as well as All Your Parts Intact: Poems.  He is the editor of Tripping the Tale Fantastic: Weird Fiction by Deaf and Hard of Hearing Writers.  He is a professor of English at Gallaudet University in Washington DC. Is Deaf Horror fiction a genre or a sub-subgenre? There is no misspelling above.  I’m inventing a new term for a weird situation.  When we label something a genre, such as Horror Science Fiction, or Fantasy, we are saying “This is what it is.  This is its definition.”  Horror…

Call for Submissions Horror Writers Association Poetry Showcase IX

Call for submissions for Poetry Showcase Volume IX  The HWA is proud to announce that it will call for submissions from its members for the Poetry Showcase Volume IX beginning April 1. Angela Yuriko Smith will be the editor for the volume. This year’s judges, along with Angela, will include Lee Murray and Maxwell I. Gold.   Only HWA members (of any status) may submit. The reason for this can be found in the word “Showcase.” The HWA is very proud of the tradition of poetry in the horror genre and of the HWA’s support for poetry. This volume is designed…

Women in Horror: Interview with Tina Pavlik

Tina Pavlik is a lifelong fan of horror and working on her first book series in the genre. She publishes dark fantasy and erotica in another life for Red Sage Publishing and Changeling Press. Her horror stories sometimes draw on her experiences as a historian, tour guide, and paranormal investigator of one of the most haunted locations in the U.S. She currently works in extras casting in television and film on projects like Amazon’s upcoming show The Peripheral and HBO’s The Righteous Gemstones. As an extra, she worked on Cinemax’s Banshee and Robert Kirkman’s Outcast and on films like Masterminds,…

Women in Horror: Interview with Emma J. Gibbon

Emma J. Gibbon is originally from Yorkshire in the U.K. and now lives in Midcoast Maine. She is an award-winning horror writer, Rhysling-nominated speculative poet, and librarian. Her debut fiction collection, Dark Blood Comes from the Feet, from Trepidatio Publishing, was one of NPR’s best books of 2020 and won the Maine Literary Book Award for Speculative Fiction. Her stories have appeared in The Dark Tome and Toasted Cake podcasts, and the anthologies, The Muse & The Flame, Wicked Haunted, Wicked Weird and is upcoming in 13 Haunted Houses. Her poetry has been published in the HWA Poetry Showcase Volume VIII, Strange Horizons, Liminality, Pedestal Magazine,…

Women in Horror: Interview with Christina Sng

Christina Sng is the two-time Bram Stoker Award-winning author of A Collection of Dreamscapes (2020) and A Collection of Nightmares (2017). Her poetry, fiction, essays, and art have appeared in numerous venues worldwide, including Fantastic Stories of the Imagination, Interstellar Flight Magazine, Penumbric, Southwest Review, and The Washington Post. Christina’s most recent title, Tortured Willows: Bent. Bowed. Unbroken (2021), is the Bram Stoker nominated collaborative poetry collection with Lee Murray, Angela Yuriko Smith, and Geneve Flynn. Visit her at christinasng.com and connect @christinasng. What inspired you to start writing? It feels like I’ve always been writing. I always had a pen and…

Women in Horror: Interview with Cindy O’Quinn

Cindy O’Quinn is a four-time Bram Stoker Award-nominated writer. Author of “Lydia”, from the Shirley Jackson Award-winning anthology: The Twisted Book of Shadows,  “The Thing I Found Along a Dirt Patch Road”, “A Gathering on the Mountain”, and “One and Done”. She is an Appalachian writer from the mountains of West Virginia. Steeped in folklore at an early age. Cindy now lives in the woods of northern Maine, on the old Tessier Homestead, which makes the ideal backdrop for writing her dark stories and poetry. Her work has been published or forthcoming in The Bad Book, HWA Poetry Showcase Vol…